Discounted Microfilm Scanning, Microfiche Scanning, Aperture Card Scanning, and Imaging Services

Tag: scanning project

Things Your Boss Expects You Know About Microfilm Scanning

So you are going about your normal workday when all of a sudden your boss has a new priority for you from left field- get pricing for microfilm scanning! You probably haven’t even heard about microfilm, your office never even uses it, but your boss has an opportunity or need to get microfilm converted- whatever that means! So you politely say “okay” and start your search online. Hopefully we can clear up some confusion with this article!

microfilm questions

Confirm and Get the Microfilm Specs

Your ultimate goal is to get a price for microfilm conversion, but the first thing you have to do is actually identify and get details about the microfilm. Now, I know this may be hard if your boss just dropped a request for a roll film quote on your desk without telling you. But you can show off your knowledge to your boss by turning the tables and asking about what type of film it is. The two main types of roll film are 16mm and 35mm roll film. These look like small versions of movie reels. 35mm reels usually have newspapers, drawings, blueprints, or maps on them, while the more common 16mm reels usually have all other types of documents, like medical records, payroll records, school records, criminal records, land and deed records, marriage certificates, lawsuits, etc. If you have any specifications, let us know: DPI resolution (200, 300, or something else), pdf or tiff, bi-tonal or greyscale, and how are the files named?

A common misnomer is to call microfilm “microfiche”. Microfiche is actually flat plastic cards which contain a few frames on them. A microfilm roll is a spool of film.

Once you get the microfilm type, you want to get an estimate of how many rolls are in the collection. The reason for all of this fact-finding is to help us give you a free microfilm scanning quote. The price varied by type and volume. Without this information, it is like contacting a car dealership and asking for a car price without saying which year, model, or spec you desire.

What is Microfilm Used For, Anyway?

As far as why microfilm is still relevant today, there are still hundreds of thousands- if not millions- of rolls that have not been converted still. Governments still produce them to store their records on them because paper takes up too much space. You would think they would just scan the paper to digital image, but it takes too long and is costly. So it is possible that your boss is helping am existing client who also has microfilm but does not know how to convert it to digital image. Your boss may be trying to respond to a bid which has microfilm scanning requirements and your office can perform all of the other tasks but not the microfilm portion. There are dozens of reasons why your boss came across the microfilm scanning opportunity.

Other Important Questions

Your boss probably wants to know if it is cheaper to buy a microfilm scanner and do it yourself vs outsourcing microfilm scanning. We can give you price ranges for both. Generally speaking, it is more inexpensive to subcontract microfilm conversions. Microfilm scanners are very expensive to buy or lease, and you have to figure in the cost to train and maintain. In many ways getting your own microfilm scanner is like setting up a new business. Regardless, we will give you numbers to work from so you can give them to your boss.

Your would probably be expected to know how much it costs to ship the microfilm back and forth. The best way to get an estimate for that is to fill a banker’s box with paper and weigh it, or look at previous UPS, Fed-Ex, or USPS shipments you’ve made and extrapolate.

Other questions include turnover time: how long does it take to finish a microfilm scanning project? What are the images delivered on: external hard drives, USB flash drives, DVDs, FTP transfer.

Continue Reading

Scanning Company With Low Microfilm Scanning Cost

How important is it really to scan your microfilm records? And How is this process ever going to pay for the microfilm conversion cost? These and many other question are asked by organizations all the time. Generation Imaging is a scanning company that has been scanning microfilm for years. The experts that make up the core of this scanning company have combined 30 years plus of experience helping organizations bring their microfilm scanning need to a successful completions.

More that just a scanning company, we see ourselves as advisers. When you contact our scanning company, you will meet a team ready to help you understand all you need to know about your microfilm scanning project. The importance of your scanning project is determined by your needs. Your consideration to data conservation, efficient data utilization and customer services are just some issues our scanning company looks at to determine the importance of your microfilm conversion needs. Scanning companies may not always get involved with this, but at Generation Imaging, our scanning company goes this extra step and it has proven very beneficial to our customers.

Typically, the savings associated with a  scanning project is subject to real utilization, and the value is shared with other benefits. The experts at our scanning company can look closely at some  of this factors and estimated the break even point. In Many cases your project begins to pay back soon after completion because our scanning company is very competitive with price. Our scanning company will offer you some of the lowest microfilm scanning cost ever.

Continue Reading

Genealogical Research Aided By Microfilm Scanning

While the vast majority of information now days is digital, an overwhelming amount of historical information still resides on older formats. Microfilm scanning is the process of converting microfilm rolls or microfiche cards to digital formats. Microfilm scanning can be easily achieved by a vendor, but you should make sure the vendor is qualified. To perform an efficient and safe microfilm scanning conversion project, you need to have the right equipment and expertise.

Many people are not aware of the advances in microfilm scanning. I read about people all the time, that needed to look up some information from a library, and they found the information searching through roll of microfilm. If microfilm scanning had been used, the search would have change the entire processes for the better. Since many of these organizations do not make any money and depend on government funding, it is difficult for them to invest in a microfilm scanning project.

Recently, some help from the government has enable many libraries to begin microfilm scanning their rolls of microfilm. The fact that funding is becoming available will make life easier for many of us. Researchers, students, and others will benefit from the end results. Microfilm scanning makes sense and is not expensive. When you weigh the benefits, microfilm scanning is by far a reasonable solution for libraries and other organizations.

Continue Reading

Looking for a Microfilm Scanning Bureau?

Generation Imaging can handle all types of microfilm conversion, no matter how large or how small. There are many microfilm bureaus out there, so find out the capabilities of a microfilm scanning bureau and how much time they need to accomplish your microfilm scanning project, as well as an upfront cost analysis. Find out significant information that will help you in the process. Be as prepared as you can and ask about all you need to know. Generation Imaging is a scanning bureau that you can partner with to get your projects completed.

There are different types of microfilm but not all microfilm scanning bureaus are capable of dealing with all types of microfilm conversion. A microfilm scanning bureau that has completed comparable jobs to yours may be better prepared to take care of your needs as well.  Generation Imaging’s staff has processed thousands of projects. If you know what equipment is needed to perform your microfilm conversion, you can ask if they have those types of resources. Some equipment is better than others and there may be quality differences in the results as well.

Some microfilm scanning bureaus invest in better equipment and upgrade the systems to use the latest scanning technology. Other microfilm scanning bureaus may be using older system less capable of producing top quality microfilm scanning.

Roll film contains identifiers that can help reduce cost during post scanning.  This microfilm company can let you know how this information can save you money.  Blips are marks besides documents on the microfilm that often represent significant page breaks or document sets. The microfilm scanning bureau should be able to use these marks on the microfilm or microfiche and group the digital records for you. It is vital for the microfilm scanning bureau to have experienced personnel to make full use of these equipment capabilities.

Other types of automated image identification may include Optical Character Recognition or OCR. A microfilm scanning bureau that has all of these tools may be of great help for your microfilm conversion needs. If your microfilm scanning bureau does not have all of the tools required, you will need to find a partner who can. You may be able to achieve better quality and a better price from a scanning company that has all of the advanced tools.

This microfilm scanning bureau will supply you with image processing options that will help your microfilm scanning project become a winner. Ask your microfilm scanning bureau about files types, file formats, and how they may affect the quality of images . A microfilm scanning bureau should present samples for you to confirm the resulting quality and formats, and Generation Imaging does that.

Continue Reading
Continue Reading